At some point most people and businesses find themselves in need of a local locksmith whether it’s residential or commercial work such as lost keys, a faulty lock or lock replacement for new tenants or automotive (vehicle) issues such as lost or snapped off car keys, faulty key fob/remote or the need for a second key for your vehicle.

With many industries it’s generally a good idea to call on the services of a well established, large company rather than a local business in fear of getting a cowboy. We have all seen programs on television about cowboy builders and rogue tradesmen doing bad jobs, overcharging or both and its best to avoid these amateurs

How far will local independent local locksmiths travel for a job?

So what’s different about the locksmith industry?

First of all let’s get a little history about the industry itself and some information about locksmith training courses.

What a lot of the public don’t realise is that the locksmith industry is completely un-regulated.

Un-regulated essentially means that anyone can advertise as an emergency locksmith, regardless of training or competence.

These amateur locksmiths are doing nothing illegal.

Because of this fact you get handymen, joiners, tilers and even odd job men all advertising general locksmith services, especially 24 hour emergency entry, they do this because most of these tradesman’s will typically own a toolbox with a drill and hammer included and when called out they will immediately start drilling out your lock, sure they are gaining access but a professionally trained locksmith  will first use his or her skill to asses the situation and see if the lock can be picked using manual or electronic lock picking tools thus saving the customer the cost of a new lock, which isn’t always needed if you have spare set of keys in the house and have just lost or misplaced your main set.

Locksmith Training

Many people hearing this for the first time respond with something like… “Shouldn’t these handymen and odd job men just go on a locksmith training course?” Unfortunately the answer is that many of them do, but the courses they choose are usually cheap and poorly taught which goes  back to the fact that the industry is un-regulated and just like anyone can offer locksmith services anyone can offer locksmith training courses.

What we currently have are a number of private companies offering budget locksmith training courses for a few £100.

In the industry we call these crash courses because that what they and they typically run for just 5 days, sometimes just 3 days. Now you don’t need to be a tradesman yourself to understand that you cannot learn a skilled trade in 3 or 5 days and what you’re actually taught is how to drill out a lock.

So are there any officially recognised Locksmith Training Courses?

As a matter of fact there are. Two actually, one for the commercial and residential sector and one for the automotive sector . These official courses are Ofqual (gov’t) courses, they run for number of months just like any other vocational course.

Vocational courses include practical and written assignments and are taught by qualified teachers.

Locksmiths taking these official courses are happy to launch their own websites.

These local locksmith will also register a Google business page for reviews because they are skilled and will get positive feedback.

Now the crash course amateurs will have very few satisfied customers so will refrain from getting their own websites and Google business page choosing to sign up with national locksmith company or call centre for work so they can be sent out for job and not divulge their personal details.

Always Choose a Local Locksmith

National companies claiming to have locksmiths all over the county are in fact just call centres.

They get a job and send the nearest locksmith on their books, which could be someone miles away.

For example one customer needed a Dumbarton Locksmith, rang a called centre and 4 hours later someone turned up from Newcastle and charged a fortune.

The call centres also take a cut of each job; this cut makes the locksmiths who sub contract for these national companies very expensive, some times charging 4 or 5 times the going rate.

If you need a locksmith in an emergency then find a locksmith with a local address.

Smart Locksmiths local locksmith finder lists the direct contact details of over 250s local, independent locksmiths

Why Choose an independent local Locksmith?

• Faster response times
• Knows the area
• Easier communication
• More Competitive rates
• Professionally Trained
• Ofqual Qualified